﻿DPO welcomes ‘ground-breaking partnership’ with elected mayor

A ground-breaking new partnership between disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) and Greater Manchester’s elected mayor could become a “template” for future work with local authorities across the region, according to one leading DPO.

The authority,
led by Labour’s Andy Burnham, is now set to approve funding this month which
will ensure that the lead of a new disabled people’s panel will be a paid
position.

That will contrast
with last
month’s announcement by Sarah Newton, the minister for disabled
people, who said that the chairs of nine new regional groups that will make up
her new Regional Stakeholder Network would not be paid.

GMCDP is now
asking disabled people to apply for the new part-time post, which will have a
pro rata salary of £31,100 a year.

The
successful candidate* will lead on work to set up the disabled people’s panel,
which aims to “strengthen the voice of disabled people and their organisations
in shaping, challenging and influencing strategic policy issues that are
important to disabled people across Greater Manchester”.

Brian Hilton (pictured, right), GMCDP’s digital campaigns officer, said: “We are really pleased to be working with the mayor’s office on this important piece of work.

“We hope
this can become a template for future work, not only with the mayor’s office
but across all Greater Manchester authorities.”

He said the
debate around how much disabled people should be paid for their labour, skills
and expertise was “not a new phenomenon”.

He said: “The
government is not alone in trying to devalue disabled people by paying us
peanuts or, in the case of the regional disability network, nothing at all.

“The current
political climate allows such things to happen.”

He pointed
out that MPs from both sides of the House of Commons, including Philip
Davies and Frank
Field, have in recent years suggested that paying some disabled
people less than the minimum wage would be a positive move forward.

He said: “The
reality of course would be that it further divides our society into Us and
Them.

“Often the
rationale for paying us less is that we are less productive and that firms are
doing us a favour in the first place by employing us and by doing so keeping us
occupied.”

But he said
that paying disabled people less – or nothing – was “not the answer”.

He said: “The
only long-term solution is to remove the barriers that prevent us from gaining
employment, retaining our jobs and advancing in our chosen careers.

“Not only is
it important that disabled people and DPOs are recompensed for their time and
expertise, but it’s also important for and benefits the mayor’s office.

“Paying for
our expertise allows the mayor’s office to make demands on the work we do and
the input we provide.

“Similarly,
we are more focused, invested in the work being undertaken and committed to
making the ongoing engagement a success.”

The partnership
is likely to be seen as a campaigning success for GMCDP,
which said before Burnham’s election as Greater Manchester’s first
elected mayor in 2017 that it hoped to persuade the successful candidate to
make the region a trailblazer for disability rights in England and “develop
ground-breaking initiatives to tackle disability”.

In contrast
with the Manchester post, Newton made it clear last
month that all those taking part in her new regional stakeholder
network – including the nine chairs – would have to work for free, apart from
travel expenses and funding for disability-related costs.

Newton also
made it clear that non-disabled people and charities and other organisations
not run and controlled by disabled people would be invited to join the network,
potentially even as some of the regional chairs.

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